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osforlife wrote:Contracts have to be my worst subject regarding baseball. Why were Antonelli, Berken, and Bergy optioned, but the others were reasssigned?

These players are on the 40 Man Roster and have been tendered contracts or signed to a contract. Options mean that they can be sent to the Minors without having to clear waivers. Most players have three options (Years) Some players because of injuries get an added year to their options and have four options.Zach BrittonMatt WietersJake ArrietaWi-Yen ChenTsuyoshi WadaMatt LindstromLuis AyalaDylan BundyRyan AdamsJosh BellJoe MahoneyOliver DrakeJason BerkenBrad BergesenMatt AntonelliChris TillmanBrian MatuszZachary Phillips Darren O`Day

These players are on the Forty Man Roster and have used up all their options. To get sent to the Minors they must clear waivers. If they clear waivers and have never been "Waived" previously they must accept the assignment with a few exceptions. If they have been waived previously then can either accept the assignment or become a Free Agent. If claimed off waivers the claiming team will pick up all of their existing contract and pay the waiving team $75 thousand "Waiver Claim Price". Jai MillerTaylor TeagardenRyan FlahertyTommy HunterChris DavisTroy PattonAdam JonesPedro StropRobert AndinoNick MarkakisDane EvelandNolan ReimoldMark ReynoldsJim JohnsonJason HammelJ.J. HardyWilson BetemitAlfredo SimonKevin GreggEndy ChavezBrian Roberts

There is a little more to this but this is the jist of it at this time of year. If I have errored I hope anybody will correct me.

DBundy got four options because he signed a major league contract right away. There's a rule that you get four if you sign a major league deal within a short time (I forget how long) after being drafted or signed. The first of those get used up this year, so the time when we're up against the option wall with him is 2016.

Same thing happened with Loewen.

Come to think of it, I think Matusz signed a major league deal too after being drafted, and if he did, he got four too.

Britton and Roberts aside, I pray to God we never see ANY of them again

I don't know why you'd have an issue with Bergesen, Berken, or Antonelli in the right role. Seeing any of the others (except for Willis if he manages to turn out to be a decent LOOGY) wouldn't be as disappointing as whatever situation caused those guys getting the call (injury, ineffectiveness, etc.).

Most veteran players try to sign a Major League contract because it puts them on the 40 man roster. Since they are often out of options if their new team wants to remove them from their roster they have to expose them to waivers which would give any other team the opportunity to acquire them by simply assuming that player's ML contract. If all of the teams pass on the player THEN the player normally has the choice between accepting an assignment to the minors or becoming a free agent again. If they were on an ML contract they get termination pay which anywhere from 1/6 of their contract to all of it.

osforlife wrote:One question at a time. Players that are optioned have two choices right? Either go to the minors or retire?

When a player is placed on the Forty Man Roster from the Minors for the first time they have what is called Three Option Years. When the player is sent to the minors from the Parent club it is called Option Assignment. After the third year of options a player is said to be "Out Of Options" which means he has been sent out the total of three different years to the minors. At that point he needs to stay on the Twenty-Five man roster or be placed on waivers. If placed on waivers and he clears waivers he can be re-assigned to a minor league affiliate. This can only be done once in the lifetime of the player. The second time he is placed on waivers and clears they can refuse the minor league assignment and become a free agent.

To further confuse the issue, for a player to be removed from the Forty Man Roster they are also placed on waivers and this has nothing to do with options and optional assignments.

When a player is waived by another club, the club that picks them up off waivers has to place them on their Forty Man Roster which usually entails them (the claiming team) placing a player on waivers to make room on their Forty.